I have heard, on many occasions, people talk about regrets regarding life choices that didn’t turn out quite like they had hoped or worries about future decisions that also might result in disappointment.  While these feelings are completely normal and everyone experiences them from time to time, I don’t find the time spent on regret or worry to be very useful overall.

We need to give ourselves the freedom to have learned from our “mistakes.” Come to think of it, why even put a negative spin on life experiences? Can’t we just allow ourselves the breathing room to live and learn and grow and change? Can’t we value the journey of life rather than always feeling let down when we don’t reach a particular goal? Sure, we all need purpose and direction to the things we are spending our time on but I find that many people berate themselves for not having gone on some upwardly slanted trajectory free from any human clutter along the way.

I would rather that we learn to value our journey through life and all that we have learned from the different twists and turns our roads have taken. Maybe a metaphorical life passport if you will. Getting stamps along the way of different character development we gained such as compassion, patience, good people skills or decisive decision-making. So what if we have started and stopped a few things in life? Maybe just going through the journey was the point and not the end goal we had envisioned in our own minds.

As we celebrate Christmas this week and the ending of 2013 next week, let’s give ourselves permission to look at our life journey from a fresh perspective and maybe we will actually find some interesting stamps in our passport that we failed to recognize previously. I know I have a few; what are yours?